Effect of High Temperature Degumming on Cotton Stalk Bast Fibers

In order to solve the problems of cotton stalk bast fibers such as hard handle, poor spinnability, the method of high temperature degumming was studied. Cotton stalk bast fibers were first pretreated with H2O2 and then treated by the method of high temperature degumming. The orthogonal experiment of factors such as concentration of alkaline, temperature, temperature holding time and liquor ratio were tested. The longitudinal directions of the fibers were examined by SEM before and after the processing, content of cellulose and lignin, the fineness, breaking strength and length of the degummed fibers were tested and evaluated so as to determine the optimal process. The results show that the optimal conditions could be expressed by concentration of sodium hydroxide at 12%, treating temperature of 130 degrees C, temperature holding time of 50min and liquor ratio of 1:20, also revealed the fact that temperature had the greatest influence on the degumming effect of the fibers. The degummed fibers were detected, of which the content of lignin and cellulose could reach about 5.82% and 93.36%, the fineness was 2.93tex, the breaking strength was 4.96cN/dtex, the average length was 77.4mm. The experimental results could provide a good reference and essential data accumulation for further research and better applications.